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With nearly half a century behind him in Washington, Joe Biden has waited a long time for this moment. But when he places his hand on a Bible, repeats a 35-word oath and is sworn in as the 46th American president on Wednesday afternoon, the background will be nothing like he ever imagined.
Biden’s inauguration on the steps of the American Capitol will be one of the strangest in American history as a result of the one-two punch of a coronavirus pandemic that has spread across the country and increased security after deadly mob violence at the Capitol itself .
In this terrifying situation he will try to find the words to start healing a bitterly polarized people. But most likely, nothing Biden says will be as important as the symbolism of Vice President Mike Pence and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama to achieve a peaceful transfer of power.
Many people hope the two-party will return to political norms and turn the page after four years of unrest under Trump, who announced he would be the first president in 150 years to hand over the ceremonial handover to his successor. boycott.
“The most important person there will be Vice President Pence,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Thin Bank in Washington. “Between Pence and Bush, it’s a powerful message to at least part of the public that the Republican Party is not the Trump party.”
The pandemic had already guaranteed it would be an inaugurated inauguration, with organizers urging the public to stay away and watch TV, far from Obama’s first inauguration, when more than a million people entered the national shopping center. About 2,000 people are expected to attend while wearing masks and physically removing them.
Then came last week’s pro-Trump uprising in which rioters swarmed the western front of the Capitol, and even climbed the scaffolding and bleachers built for the inauguration. The fear of another assault means that Biden will now become the world’s most powerful man in an area that looks more like Baghdad’s green space than an open city of boulevards and monuments.
The secret service leads a “zero fail mission”. Barricades, checkpoints and a two-meter (7-meter) fence were erected around the Capitol with national guards at the edge. About 20,000 such troops will be deployed and half of them will be in the city by Saturday if protests break out over the weekend.
Streets near the Capitol have been closed, the National Park Service has closed the Washington Monument for tours and airline company Airbnb has said it is canceling all bookings in the Washington area to discourage protesters from staying in the city.
On Wednesday, while being charged with inciting the mob, Trump a video message issued urgent calm. “I unequivocally condemn the violence we saw last week,” he said. “Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement. There may be no violence, lawlessness and vandalism of any kind. ”
But ominous messages have appeared in far-right chat rooms and forums about possible problems. The website of Patriot Action for America, which was recently taken down, asked supporters to surround the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court days before “to prevent, at all costs, the inauguration of Joseph Biden, or any other Democrat”.
The capital is on the edge. Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who has attended every inauguration since 1976, said: ‘We have had strange things for several hundred years, but nothing like it and what is really sad is that people is nervous.
‘I would say a fair number of people hope to move it inside. You can not pass anything on to these people, and they clearly spoke murder – there is no other way to put it. These people are crazy and they were legitimized by Trump. ”
Biden, who at 78 is the oldest person ever to be sworn in as US president, said last Monday: “I’m not afraid to take the oath outside.” But security measures forced him to cancel plans to take a 90-minute trip from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to Washington by train, which mimicked his daily commute during his 36 years as a senator.
Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice-president admitted: ‘It breaks my heart because there are very few civil servants in this country who deserve a traditional inauguration more than Joe Biden, and unfortunately this will not happen . ‘
The theme for the inauguration is ‘America United’, a striking contrast to Trump’s dark and divisive event four years ago. Biden, his vice president, Kamala Harris, and their wives will lay a wreath at the grave of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. They will be joined there by Clinton, Bush and Obama and their wives in a very deliberate consensus.
The organizing committee also announced plans for a large public art exhibit spanning several blocks from the National Mall, which will feature 191,500 U.S. flags and 56 light pillars around each state and territory and “the American people who cannot travel” to the Capitol.
Traditions such as the inaugural parade and the inauguration of balls will switch to a virtual format and actor Tom Hanks will present a 90-minute TV award-winning title titled Celebrating America and featuring various celebrities.
Lara Brown, director of the graduate school of political science at George Washington University in Washington, told a letter from the Foreign Press Centers, “I would not be surprised if they were in the East Room of the White House.” a space where you could see President Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden dancing in the ballroom. In other words, they would film it as a virtual event. ‘
But the relative lack of splendor, pomp and other distractions means that even more than usual will ride on the inaugural address. Former presidents like Abraham Lincoln (“bind up the wounds of the land”), Franklin Roosevelt (“the only thing we must fear is fear itself”) and John F Kennedy (“do not ask what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country ”) came to the opportunity.
David Litt, a former Obama speechwriter, said: ‘When you think about the number of crises Joe Biden takes office in, it’s quite astonishing. I have no idea if we will look back on this as rhetoric and say that it was comparable to Lincoln’s second inauguration or the first of FDR, because that is a very high degree, but it’s hard to imagine a president on a more high takes time for America. ”
Biden’s speeches last year at the Democratic National Convention and after his election victory were well received. He will likely again emphasize themes of the salvation of the soul of America, rebuilding trust in institutions and governing for all citizens, not just those who voted for him.
Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan and editor of I Do Solemnly Swear: Presidential Inaugural Addresses of the Last Fifty Years, said: “He has his own speechwriter and will probably get help from people in his government, even maybe of people outside like [historian] Jon Meacham and others who are really good wordsmiths.
‘They’re probably back to the drawing board. Usually these concepts are done around the holidays before Christmas, but given everything over the past week or two, it’s almost like starting over. ”
But Kamarck, who was on stage as a Clinton administration official in 1997 for his second inauguration, will award no points for poetry, singers or rising rhetoric for this oath like no other.
“With the country being at the breaking point at different levels, we just need competence,” she said. ‘I do not care if he’s inspiring or not, and I do not think anyone else does. After the last four years of complete nonsense from Trump, exactly straight pragmatism is exactly what the moment demands, and I think that’s what he will do. And honestly, it will be inspiring. ”